Author: peterb51

9th July 2020

We had fun re-packing the pool cover into the box to send back. There must be a special skill to be able to make something physically smaller than it can be. With tremendous effort and some sticky tape, we managed to close the carton.

We finally managed to get rid of a dresser and side table that we had sold in January, but has been stored in our back room next to the garage.

The buyer was from Indianapolis which is a good three hours away, but with all the out-of-state restrictions this was the earliest he could make it.

He arrived in a large black open-backed truck, with an exhaust the size of a dustbin.

It was so loud that it would frighten the virus away.

He appreciated that we were able to store them for so long and thrust a twenty buck note into Kelli’s hand by way of a storage fee.

We loaded up, and with an ear-splitting blast, he fired up his truck and was gone, leaving just the exhaust note fading into the distance.

It was time to tackle the out-of-shape issue with the pool. The size we have must be the maximum dimensions it can be for the volume of water. I keep adding air to the bottom section, but it seems to make little difference.

We concluded that we needed something to support the long side to stop it bowing out.

Off to Menards we went, to buy some sand and sand bags to shore up our droopy problem.

We filled six bags with about twenty five pounds of sand and laid them down the exposed side of the pool, to our delight, it made a difference, so we marked it down as a success.

8th July 2020

As I looked out of the sunroom after letting the dogs out, I saw that the parasol was in the pool.

I rushed out to investigate. The base that we got from her mother, had broken.

The post attachment had rusted, and gave way, thus the floating parasol.

Fortunately there was no damage to the pool, but we had to resort to sticking it back into the ground, and moving it around to follow the sun.

We had our first dinner out since the whole restrictions began. Kelli made the reservation for the outside area for 6.00pm as a surprise because Wednesday night is Stein night.

We got there on time, and taken to the hottest area of the yard, and right in the centre was our table.

The most unwelcome material in this weather is aluminium, even Satan himself would have said f***! sitting on those chairs.

We sat there for a while, I could see her forehead glistening and beads of sweat running down her cleave.

Fortunately we were able to move tables although they had a strict system for the allocation, we could move as long as we were done by 7.30pm.

The stein quickly emptied as we watched new people being seated at our old table. They looked like they had just come from a cryogenic chamber, so needed the heat.

I’m just glad that we could be of service.

Talking of service, I was in the process of paying the bill, and debating what level of gratuity to apply. There was a choice of fifteen, twenty and twenty-five percent, now usually I select the twenty because I don’t want to be a tight-ass, Kelli lent across and tapped the twenty-five.

Her reason was the staff had to work outside in all the heat wearing a mask, I reminded her we had to bloody sit out in it.

But it was a welcomed end to a uncomfortable day, we managed to paint the dresser, and I worked on repairing the drawer.

As soon as we could throw ourselves in the water the better, I have even been thinking what jobs I could do submerged in the pool.

From the beginning we made sure that we covered the pool at night to avoid getting any unwelcome guests during the night. We bought a tarpaulin to fit the size we had. At first it was okay, not perfect, but it worked. Over the time I think the pool is getting bigger. The tarp is now like a stamp on an elephants ass. This prompted Kelli to order a pool cover to the exact size, which we thought would be perfect, that would be a beautifully sculpted fit.

Instead it was still like fitting a slightly larger stamp on a bigger elephants ass.

7th July 2020

It was so hot that thoughts of doing anything in the garage was horrendous. The only consolation was we had someone coming to collect a bookcase that we picked up last week and we didn’t do a thing to it.

We both were working on a project piece that we’ve had for a while. It has a curved frontage that has been stained dark, whilst Kelli painted primer on to the carcass. I have re-veneered the top, so that is into the multi coats of polyurethane to get a deep finish I want.

A water pump was delivered so that we can drain the pool without having to use buckets. We wanted to test it out, so we pumped nearly half the contents into the dog bog. Of course when refilling with fresh water it was colder than the water we removed, something that Kelli found out when she got in. Now I’m usually the wimp when it come to getting into cool water, I have to have showers hot, so the shriek was welcomed by me, and it made me smile.

6th July 2020

How hard can it be to print something from a tablet to a wireless printer?

Kelli got that call from her mother, so after we had dried ourselves off from our bout in the pool we cycled up there to try to sort it out.

Yes all the apps had been installed so we thought it was a five minute job, but nothing involving her mother is a five minute job.

What she was trying to do was print a label to send something back to an online supplier using a UPS application.

We went through the simple process, we had the label on the screen, but there was no way we could print it, the icon was greyed out.

So this started an hour long investigation into why the function would not work. I’m not used to an Android system, so I thought Kelli would be able to sort it out. She was as confused as I was. Whilst this was happening her mother had a number of other things that needed to go back to EBay, so Kelli engaged herself as a customer service person and was on the phone trying to sort that problem out.

Eventually, wracked with frustration, I had the information emailed to me, and I was able to call up the label and print it, but we never got to the bottom of the original problem.

The temperature soared Ito the top eighties by midday so the was a limited time to do anything strenuous. We had people coming round to pick up the entertainment centre that we finished yesterday, much to our relief.

Although it is still early in the month we have sold just two pieces so far. It is too hot to work for long periods, we just need to keep progress going.

5th July 2020

We had a buyer for a dresser that we had finished last week, Kelli was panicking because we didn’t have anyone jump on it straight away. The lady turned up early in the afternoon, and we loaded it into her truck, and off she went.

I worked on another dresser that we bought as a project piece back in May. A project piece is something sold as incomplete because, usually the person can’t be bothered to finish it, or they don’t have the skill/equipment to complete it.

We have do a few of these, and mostly they turn out well.

This one needed a new top, because the veneer was chipped, and large parts had been removed. The basic carcass was okay, a cross rail had been fixed with a two inch nail, so that needed to be removed. Once I did that I found that the tongue holding it into the frame had broken, so another inserted piece to make good, and the repair was a good’n.

I started reading the John Bolton memoir “The Room Where It Happened” I had it sitting on the coffee table for a while, but non of our Republican friends and family saw it, which was a shame.

We dragged the entertainment centre that we just finished into the living space, it was a heavy beast, good job it came with castors.

4th July 2020

We moved things that were in the shed around and squeezed in the two dressers that had been giving me some grief.

Now my poor mind only has to focus on what I can see, even though there is still a lot to get through, including those wretched chairs.

I started working on the one that was semi-detached with itself. One side of the back had snapped at the seat, and when I removed the wedges, half of the other stayed in the seat.

The only way I could think to repair it was to fit a tongue into the good wood and bond back the broken pieces. So that is what I did, I still have the broken seat to deal with, but that is for another day.

Kelli was in the kitchen making food of the family get-together in the evening. We still had a chance for a splash about in the pool.

What I didn’t realise is all the things you have to do to maintain it. The chlorine tablets, the testing kit to check the Ph and chlorine levels, have to be done to stop the water turning green and attracting alligators.

The party went well, the food was great, as usual and I stuffed two meatless hotdogs down my neck, along with a couple of beers.

I should have had more, but then I would have gotten into some political arguments and ruined the whole day.

By the time that ended, then watering the garden I was shattered, I think I fell asleep during out TV watching time, what a loser!

3rd July 2020

So I have this 4th July to go through again. Everything has ramped up to meet this date, and although I enjoy the getting together with my US family, it’s a reminder that my side is missing.

We are going through a hot spell at the moment which I love, it does drain the energy for work out of me, which in turn slows the output down.

We picked up a couple of things that we can transform, although some chairs Kelli was hoping to exchange for the ones we use, might require a bloody miracle. One of them was falling to bits, and I’m not sure I have the skill or the interest to do anything with.

I of course will try, but the finish of all three will have to be stripped back to make anything decent out of them.

We stopped off at Menards to buy some feather-edge cedar strips to re-side the shed.

This was going to be this weekend’s project, but no, it was not in stock, so had to be ordered, great news!.

Whilst we were there we bought more inflatable things for the pool. I don’t know how many more thing we need. It’s so full at the moment there is no room for us.

I bought a couple of small boats so we could have races, what a load of crap they were. They were clockwork, there was a cord at the front that had to be pulled out and then released. The length of the cord was quite short, it did not provide enough wind-up power to move the craft at all. All mine did was go in circles then sink, Kelli’s was a bit better, but ultimately they were useless.

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However the inflatable ring was much more fun, we could definitely chase each other round the small pool with those.

We had a second mat delivered to lay by the pool to stop dirty feet putting crap into the water. Unfortunately the dogs are shit scared of them so won’t cross, they stand at the edge just looking scared, I’m sure they will get used to them, they had better.

The garage has now a lot of stuff, and it’s starting to freak me out. I like to have things to work on in sequence, when there is lots, I don’t know what to concentrate on, so my head goes round in circles.

The only solution will be to move stuff into the shed out of my sight, then I should calm down.

2nd July 2020

We broke our golden rule of pool usage, that was to limit our time to later in the day. This was set because once we sat in the water nothing would ever get done.

Earlier I had sanded and stained two dresser tops including the latest re-veneered one.

I was taking a bit more knowledge of handling veneers to hopefully give a better quality product.

Kelli’s job was painting doors for an entertainment unit, that we had bought a few weeks ago. She was working outside in the blazing sun, this was too much for her, so she slipped away to change into her swim suit.

From inside the garage I could hear her slopping about in the water.

After the staining, I was a dripping mess, there was only one answer, and that was to join her.

We floated about for an hour then decided we needed food.

After lunch we started some work in the garden digging up some grass and lay mulch, within fifteen minutes we unanimously agreed to some more pool time, and that’s when we broke the rule.

More floating occurred, and at some point we both nodded off like a pair of old gits.

Later in the evening we took the dogs for a walk, explosions from fireworks were all around, and there was the most amazing displays from the fireflys.

1st July 2020

Kelli had found a couple of free dressers on Marketplace, the trouble was they were in Grand Rapids.

We set off in our newly fitted repaired truck. Not only were the brakes better the air conditioning was working after a squirt of refrigerate, and boy did we need it.

We arrived at the address that looked like a bomb-site. The house was on the corner with an entrance at the side. There were five cars in various states of dis-repair parked, making it difficult to walk towards the front porch where the dressers were left.

We both put on gloves and went to look at the furniture. The house looked very run down, and the furniture wasn’t in bad condition.

With situations like theses we don’t know the story of why these pieces were being given away free. It could have been the landlord clearing out an apartment. Was it an eviction? We will never know.

We managed to carry the dressers passed the cars, and into the back of the truck, tying the hatch back down with a bungee.

As we pulled away we noticed a group of four black guys loading, or should I say overloading an open back truck. It was like a scene from a silent movie, it looked like all someone’s worldly possessions crammed into one vehicle.

The truck was leaning heavily to one side as they we strapping it down.

It looked like they were trying to either make a quick getaway, or couldn’t afford to make more than one trip.

I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it outside of India who are the masters of overloading.

We debated if we should hang around and watch if the wheels fell off, but because this was a bit of a doggy area we decided to leave.

We did a little work in the garage before we got too hot and sweaty, and the call from the pool was too strong to resist.

It is a great way to end the day, looking up into the blue sky watching the birds circling, the water so warm it’s such a luxury.

30th June 2020

If the mail man ever passed the house without delivering something I’m sure he would thing we would be dead.

Kelli’s ears are trained to the sound of the post truck, and knows exactly when it trundles down the road. I find it highly amusing, as the routine is the same each day.

First the delivery is made, and Kelli scuttles out to collect it, then there is the look of puzzlement, as she’s not sure what it is. Then the opening occurs, then it is the realisation of what it is, then the joy of seeing it.

Today it was a carpet to go next to the pool to stop any debris getting into the water, next it was a cover for the pool, we are now all set.

We had to drive to Hudsonville to collect a project piece, that hopefully can be done quickly.

As we were having some issues with the brakes on the truck, we had arranged with Larry to get him to get them sorted.

We stopped off to pick up some new discs and pads then dropped it over to larry’s shop.

Half an hour later he called me over to show a seized brake calliper piston. This took a bit of strength to free it up, but we did it.

Once it was all put back together it all worked as it should.

I didn’t think that laying in a plastic inflatable pool could an impact on me. I’m not a great lover of water, and laying in the sun was something I tried to avoid, but I feel so relaxed just floating, and looking at the sky. We work until five then we spend an hour just resting, I never imagined that I would be doing such a thing at my age.